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MISCELLANEOUS INTELLIGENCE. 



Art. I. Retrospective Criticism. 



Mr. Audubon and his Work, the " Biography of Birds:" Mr. 

 Swainson in Reply to Mr. Waterton. — Sir, My name having 

 been introduced, very unnecessarily, in your last Number 

 (p. 464.), I am called upon to rectify the misstatement, no 

 doubt unintentional, of Mr. Ord. In reply to the questions 

 and enquiries of that gentleman, regarding the assistance it 

 was expected I should have given to my friend Mr. Audubon, 

 in the scientific details of his work, my reply was, that the ne- 

 gotiation had been broken off from an unwillingness that my 

 name should be printed in the titlepage. I was not asked 

 to write the work, nor did Mr. Audubon "insist upon his 

 own name being given to the world as the author * of such 

 parts as he wished me to undertake. 



The query in p. 466. [on the style of language in the ori- 

 ginal manuscripts] may be briefly answered. I have read 

 Mr. Audubon's original manuscripts, and I have read Mr. 

 Waterton's original manuscripts ; and both before they were 

 published. I think the English of one is as good as the En- 

 glish of the other : but here the comparison ceases. 



What all this has to do with a question regarding the smell 

 of vultures, I must leave your readers to find out. Yours, &c. 

 — W. Swainson. Sept. 17. 1833. 



Mr. Audubon and his Work, the " Biography of Birds ;" Mr. 

 Audubon, jim., in Reply to Mr. Waterton. — Sir, Having left 

 Mr. Swainson to correct the misstatement of Mr. Ord, permit 

 me to make a few remarks on the rest of Mr. Waterton's at- 

 tacks [reply to myself and R. B.] in your last Number (p. 464.). 



Mr. Waterton deems it " somewhat singular" that I should 

 complain of his attacks on my father, when I have taken no 

 notice of the " momentous charge " brought by Dr. Jones 

 against Mr. Audubon. Let us look for a moment to the 

 manner in which this charge is made. The following extract 

 is a fair specimen ; those of your readers who admire such 

 writing will find more of the same sort in the publication 

 quoted by Mr. Waterton [the Franklin Journal']. The writer 

 alludes to a paper, by Mr. Audubon, on the habits of the 

 rattlesnake : — 



<c It is a tissue of the grossest falsehoods ever attempted to 



